Oct 8th, 2009

ICMSA call on Government to 'take the French hint' and go for agriculture portfolio in the next Commission

The President of ICMSA has called on the Government to signal immediately their intention to put forward a nominee for the agriculture portfolio in the next European Commission due to be decided and announced within a matter of weeks. Jackie Cahill said that it was supremely important that someone conversant with the problems and challenges facing Irish and European farming was given the portfolio and he added that reports that French diplomats and official sources had been urging the Irish Government to actively 'go' for the agriculture portfolio represented a golden chance to, as he put it, 'have the right person in the right job at the right time'. Mr Cahill said the Government had a number of excellent Irish candidates with unrivalled EU experience and records of achievement that would practically secure their appointment to the portfolio. What was required now, said Mr Cahill, was clear intention and determined lobbying.

'What European agriculture needs is a person of very considerable talent and determination and we have candidates who meet that profile. We would also urge the Government to recognise - in the same way as the French obviously have done - that there will be a concerted effort made by certain Member States to sacrifice Europe's farmers in the hope of securing any kind of WTO deal deemed desirable to stabilise the global economic conditions. This is a real and present danger: we absolutely must have an agricultural commissioner who is determined to defend and develop Europe's agri-food sector and not one who simply regards it as a pawn to be sacrificed as a means to an end. I'm calling on the Irish Government to indicate to Mr Barroso that we are putting forward a name with the portfolio of agriculture specifically in mind and we expect to have that nomination recognised. This is the smart move for Ireland', concluded Mr Cahill.

BACK TO 2009 ARCHIVES